Im Tirtzu Founder Denies NIF Funding

The founder and former chairman of grassroots Zionist student movement Im Tirtzu vehemently denied on Sunday that the group received money from its nemesis, the New Israel Fund.

"I heard that the New Israel Fund is spreading a rumor that they contributed money to Im Tirtzu in 2009,” wrote Shoval on Facebook. “Understand, everyone – this never happened. This is, of course, another delusional lie created by the New Israel Fund. It is a crass lie, a blatant lie.

He added: "Only those who can fund lies against soldiers of the IDF and the state of Israel, according to which we are war criminals / an apartheid state, etc., can produce such lies. The question is, how stupid do they think the public is?!?

"And now, to prove I am lying, I call on the New Israel Fund to produce a receipt from Im Tirtzu,” he continued. “Search very well – you will never find one. There is no such receipt, because we never received a penny of your despicable money. Besides, there is no chance that you would grant a penny to a body that supports Israel.”

"Face with a lie so crazed – even by NIF standards – I would like to remind the friends from the NIF that forging a receipt is a very grave offense, and that if this happens, I will go directly to the tax authorities,” he warned.

Shoval was reacting to a Facebook post by NIF on Friday, in which it wrote: “It turns out that in 2009, before Im Tirtzu lost it completely, they joined several other organizations in order to fight against the privatization of Israel's lands. They were called 'the struggle headquarters.' And do you know who gave the headquarters two grants worth thousands of dollars? That's right, we did. How terrible, it turns out that Im Tirtzu itself received funds from the Fund! MK Ayelet Shaked, please take care of this.”

Tensions are high between Im Tirtzu and the NIF as the Celebrate Israel parade in New York nears. Im Tirtzu joined the effort to keep the NIF and related groups out of the march, and the NIF reacted with pugnacious rhetoric, calling Im Tirtzu "hollow marionettes": "This year, the regular stiflers of expression decided that they don't feel like seeing us in the march," the NIF Facebook page said. "You guessed it. Yes, Im Tirtzu, the Mida website, Minister Naftali Bennett. All the usual suspects.

"So what do they do? The scream and screech wherever they are given a platform, publish recycled reports from 2010, and claim that their truth is the one and only truth. In the end, what do they cause? A historic and unprecedented rift between Israel and world Jewry."